The life and many deaths of Harry Houdini - Ruth Brandon

More than 60 years after his death, the deeds of the escapologist Harry Houdini still inspire imitators and ad-men. The common perception of Houdini is of a small man, manacled, jumping off a bridge into icy water, suspended from a skyscraper or emerging from a sealed coffin. His tricks were very clever and effective, but the author of this book argues that the man himself was far more interesting than the tricks.;The book examines the phenomenon of fame - what it is that compels a man to perform acts of near-suicidal bravado to gain public acclaim, and what it is that draws vast crowds of people to watch. It considers the nature of a man whom the author believes was probably sexually repressed, and yet performed almost naked, draped in chains and manacles, who wrote love letters to his wife five times a day, and who struggled obsessively for years to prove or disprove the existence of life after death.;Ruth Brandon argues that it is in his death that the key to Houdini's life and success is to be found. She claims that, more complex than just a small man triumphing against the odds, his escapes can be read as a drama of death and resurrection.;Brandon's other books include "The New Women and the Old Men" and an autobiography of Sarah Berhardt, "Being Divine".